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It's still the mid-1950's here at SUABP. I can smell the the coal smoke and feel the smog settling around me. What fun.

Today I've got some surprising numbers harvested from the Barclay Perkins archives. Fascinating stuff about the relative sales of each of their products.

Barclay Perkins output by beer 1956Beerstylebarrels%XXMild

45,043

19.63%

XMild

2,598

1.13%

DBABrown Ale

37,603

16.38%

PA FESTBest Bitter

1,018

0.44%

PGA

9,308

4.06%

PA (T)Best Bitter

23,608

10.29%

XLKBitter

13,562

5.91%

IPAIPA

27,661

12.05%

KKKKStrong Ale

872

0.38%

KK (B)Old Ale

3,946

1.72%

KK (T)Burton

2,715

1.18%

IBS EXRussian Stout

686

0.30%

BBS EXExport Stout

77

0.03%

LSLondon Stout

14,327

6.24%

LagerLager

46,486

20.25%

Total

229,510

Source:Document ACC/2305/1/675 held at the London Metropolitan ArchivesNote:year ending March 31st

See what the big surprise is? The biggest seller is Lager, outselling even draught Mild. Brown Ale also makes an unexpectedly strong showing, only a little behind Mild. And the poor performance of XLK, long one of their mainstays, is a shock.

This was a pivotal moment for Barclay Perkins, being exactly when it merged (taken over, really) by Courage. What happened later to the brewery is less surprising. About a decade later Ale production ceased and it became a dedicated Lager brewery, churning out lots of luvverly Harp for London chavs. A sad end for a great Porter brewery.

The total number of barrels brewed tells its own tale. Those 229,000 barrels look pretty sad compared with Barclay Perkins output in their glory years:

1810 235,100
1815 337,600
1850 397,360
1900 589,201
1914 845,857

That probably explains why they fell victim to a takeover: declining sales.